We were approached for a gig by a newish client last week, seemed straight forward enough. Show up, light and shoot one musician for a promotional campaign for a clothing line. Usually I pack according to what I’m shooting, but because of minimal info, I panicked, and brought the whole arsenal of location lighting with me. Upon arrival, my crew was greeted by a gaggle of models, MUA, video-documentarian, style team and the direction of the shoot had mushroomed from a one-subject promo, to the whole dang clothing line. Good thing we had extra lighting.

For most of the shoot, I used four Speedlites with various Honl Photo light modifiers, but brought out a fifth for effect and some fill when the client wheeled a motorcycle on set. For most of the shoot I had two strobes doing main/fill combo for subjects, one rim/hairlight, and one blasting hard shadows accross the graffiti wall.

The whole experience was massively unexpected, but I haven’t had this much fun with mixed-light in a while. Be prepared! Gigs don’t always go as planned, but I will never complain about a small shoot turning into a big shoot. Go with the flow, and don’t be afraid to push out of your comfort zone–you never know what you’re capable of creating–but always take the moment to update contracts to reflect the unexpected changes!

The rest of the session, plus info on the new line from Parispolice, will be available soon.